Sandy Hook choir to sing at Super Bowl

Nanci G. Hutson

Updated 5:35 pm, Thursday, January 31, 2013

NEWTOWN -- An anonymous donor has provided money so that as many as 26 members of the Sandy Hook Elementary School choir can perform "America the Beautiful'' at the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Talk of the invitation to the Superdome in New Orleans was circulating in the school district Wednesday, but school leaders were closed-mouthed about details.

Parents and staff not attending the game were expected to receive information on the choir's performance in the coming days.

Some students from Sandy Hook and other Newtown schools earlier this month teamed up with Grammy-nominated singer Ingrid Michaelson to record "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for the one-month anniversary of the Dec. 14 shooting.

That recording, however, done privately through a local music program was not a school-sponsored choral event. The "Somewhere Over the Rainbow'' tune is now on YouTube.

The Superbowl invitation from the National Football League was for third- and fourth-graders at the school who will be rehearsing as a choir for the national sporting extravaganza between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.

Parents and school representatives said Thursday that the Superbowl event and the YouTube song are not related.

The Board of Education approved the donation for the Superbowl event as part of its consent agenda on Jan. 23. The amount of the donation was not in the minutes, and school officials interviewed this week were either unaware of the amount or unwilling to provide such details.

First Selectman Pat Llodra said Wednesday she knew about the invitation and donation but did not have details. She said she simply forwarded the contact to Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson, who then forwarded the information to the board, which approved the gift.

Messages left at both Sandy Hook School and for other school leaders, including central office administrators, were not returned Wednesday.

"It's an honor,'' one local parent, who did not wish to be identified, said of the invitation to perform at the Superbowl.